Mucking machine dipper



NOV. 1, 1938. w WH|TM|RE 2,134,991

' MUCKING MACHINE DIPPER Filed Aug. 4 1937 Patented Nov. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This invention, a dipper or can for mucking machines and other types of excavating machines which have rigid dipper arms or sticks, incorporates new features which are conducive to in creased speed and efiiciency in mucking and excavating operations, and also provides for cleaning up the floor or footwall of the excavation or tunnel as the work progresses.

This invention is an improvement over my patents, numbered,2,067,879, issued January 12, 1937, and 2,036,687, issued July 13, 1937, and may be used in conjunction with other elements disclosed in these patents, as also with the devices disclosed in my copending applications, Serial No. 157,331, filed Aug. 4, 1937 for a Mucking machine dipper hoisting system, and Serial No. 157,332, filed Aug. 4, 1937, for a Mucking machine and conveyor system, as also with any type of rigid dipper sticks or arms on usual types of dredges and mucking machines.

The objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:

First; to provide a dipper connection with which crowding and relieving can be alternately accomplished to provide a true digging orspading action of the dipper teeth, instead of the usual straight or curved forcing action.

Second; to provide a wrist connection between the dipper and dipper sticks or arm, and to provide means for limiting the wrist movement thereof to any predetermined value at will.

Third; to provide a bail for said dipper with back stops to convert the bail into a rigid lever arm during the mucking and initial hoisting operations whereby the relieving action may be accomplished through the medium of the hoisting means.

Fourth; to provide a heel on the dipper so that the floor may be cleaned up through manipulation of the dipper as the work progresses.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description is read on the drawing forming a part of this specification, and in which similar reference characters are used to designate similar parts throughout the several views, of which;

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken on a line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the dipper-stick connection to the crowd of the mucking machine.

The dipper has an open front 10, side walls ll, back wall l2, bottom wall 13, and a cover I4 which is hinged at 15 and latched in closed position by the automatic latch I6 which is pivotedat l1 and counterweighted at 18 and provided with the release arm IS.

The dipper or bucket is also provided with teeth 20 and a, bail or ball arms 2|, one end of the arms being pivotally secured to the side walls I l of the dipper as shownat 22,'and the other end of which arms have the hoisting cable 23 connected thereto.

The main feature of the invention consists-of the connection between the dipper-back l2' and the dipper sticks 24,125, 26 and 27, one'end of which are pivotally connected to a Wrist head 28 by means of pins 29 and 30, and the other ends of which are pivotally connected to the head 3| of the crowd 32 by means of the pins 33 and34.

A bearing 35 is mounted on the rear wall E2 of V the dipper and the wrist head 28 is hingedly con nected thereto by means of the pin 36; suitable adjustable members, such as set screws 31 being provided to limit the wrist action to at predetermined value at will, these set screws or, other suitable adjustablemembers being cooperatively related to the wrist head 28; the combination of bearing 35, wrist head 28, and pin 36 forming the wrist joint.

Mounted on the forward end of the mucking section frame 38 is ashelf or stop 39 on which the wrist head 28 rests when the canor dipper is lowered after dumping, acting as a stop and support for the outer end of the dipper sticks while permitting the front end of the dipper to drop until the lower member 31 cooperates with the wrist head,.thuspermitting the teeth 20 to be presented in a more definite engaging position to the muck. As soon as the crowd forces the dipper forward, the wrist head slides off the support39, and the dipper and dipper sticks function in their usual manner. 7

The bail back-stops 40 are aifixed to the sides of the can, and. it will be noted that the bail is capable of swinging forward, which is necessary for hoisting and dumping, but during the mucking operation and initial hoisting the bail functions as a rigid lever arm by cooperation with the backstops, permitting the can or dipper to be radially reciprocated about the pivot 36, causing an action of the teeth 20 in the muck similar to the action of a spade or shovel forced into the ground by the foot and the spade canted after each downward thrust, loosening the material after each thrust to ease up the further crowding or forcing.

With this machine, the dipper is first forced into the muck by the crowd, then the hoisting cable is'operated, and pulls the bail against the stops andcants the dipper on its heel which functions as a fulcrum, the wrist action permitting this action, and which could not be obtained otherwise. The hoisting cable isthenreleased, and the crowd again operated, the hoisting and crowding being alternated, and thus producing a true digging or spading action.

Since the material is loosened up by canting of the dipper following each crowding action, it follows that the material can be handled more rapidly and with far greater efficiency, and that the dipper can be more completely filled than if the entire operation were dependent on crowding,

alone.

A clean-up heel 4| is integral with or aflixed to the bottom of the dipper, and is indicated as consisting of two arms 42 and 43 affixed to the bottom of the dipper and inclined downwardly and projecting beyond the rear end of the dipper,

and having a cross-member or heel 44 affixed to the bottom thereof. Thus, if the dipper is drawn back by the cable as far as the wrist connection will permit without hoisting the dipper, the rear edge of the heel plate 44' will ride on the floor or footwall 45, and the crowd can then force the scattered muck on the floor forwardly so that it can be picked up by the dipper.

Thus there is provided the wrist joint, which in conjunction with suitable manipulation of the crowd and the hoisting means, will create a true digging or spading action to'the dipper, and with the clean-up heel, permits cleaning up of the floor directly by the mucking machine, saving the time and expense of manual clean-up.

It will be understood that variations in construction and arrangement of parts, which variations are consistent with the appended claims, may be resorted to without detracting from the spirit or scope of the invention, or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

I claim:

1. In combination, an excavating machine dipper and hoisting means therefor, a dipper stick, and a hinge connection between said dipper and said dipper stick, permitting movement of said dipper relative to said dipper stick, and means adjustable at will limiting the movement of said hinge connection to a predetermined value.

2. In combination, an excavating machine dipper and hoisting means therefor, a dipper stick, and a hinge connection between said dipper and said dipper stick, permitting movement of said dipper relative to said dipper stick, and a heel on said dipper projecting downwardly and rearward ly from the bottom of said dipper permitting cleaning up of scattered muck by tilting and crowding the dipper, and functioning as a fulcrum for spading operation of' the dipper.

. 3. In a mucking machine having a frame and a rectilinearly acting crowd, hoisting means, a dipper stick, a dipper, and a hinge connecting the dipper and the dipper stick providing for radial reciprocation of said dipper by said hoisting means to provide a spading action to the teeth of the dipper when alternated with forward lunges of the crowd, said dipper stick consisting of two pairs of crossed dipper sticks, a head on said crowd, said respective pairs having one end pivotally hinged or attached to opposite ends of said head, said hinge connection comprising a wrist head having the other end of said respective pairs pivotally attached to opposite ends thereof, a bearing secured to said dipper and a pivot connection to said bearing intermediate the ends of said wrist head.

4. In a mucking machine, a mucking section frame, a dipper, a bail pivotally attached to said dipper, and stops limiting backward swing of said bail, a wrist head, a crowd and a head therefor, crossed dipper sticks pivotally connected between said heads and connected in pairs at opposite ends thereof, a wrist pin bearing affixed to said dipper, and a wrist pin connecting said bearing and said wrist head, and hoisting means operatively associated with said bail.

5. A structure as claimed in claim 4, and stop means cooperating between said bearing and said wrist head, limiting the wrist movement between said wrist head and said dipper.

6. A structure as claimed in claim 4, and stop means on said frame cooperatively related to said wrist head to limit the drop thereof and form a support therefor when the dipper is in its most retracted position to initially tilt the forward end of the dipper downwardly to muck-engaging position.

7. A structure as claimed in claim 4, and a heel affixed to, or integral with the bottom of said dipper and inclined downwardly and projecting beyond the rear end of the dipper for cleaning up operations, and to serve as a fulcrum during digging or spading operation of the dipper.

8. In an excavating machine; two elements comprising a dipper and a dipper stick; a hinged connection between said elements; adjustable stop means associated with one of said elements and cooperatively related to the other of said elements limiting the pivotal movement of one of said elements relative to the other in both directions; and flexible hoisting means associated with said dipper whereby reciprocal action of predetermined value may be imparted to said dipper relative to said dipper stick at will through takeup and release of said hoisting means.

9. A structure as claimed in claim 8; a bail pivotally secured to said dipper; a backstop on said dipper for said bail limiting the rearward swing of said bail relative to said dipper while permitting complete rearward inversion of said dipper; said hoisting means functioning through said bail and urging rearward inversion of the dipper when said bail is brought into cooperation with said backstop.

WILLIAM A. WHITMIRE. 

